German Defence Minister stripped of doctorate for plagiarism

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Germany’s Defence Minister was stripped of his doctorate and publicly disgraced yesterday after being found to have copied large sections of his student dissertation from other works.

The humiliation of Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg — named Man of the Year by several news magazines last year, and once the rising star of Angela Merkel’s conservative Government — was profound in a society where doctorates are often seen as a necessary step to a political career.

Although politicians that plagiarise have survived and even flourished in other countries — Vladimir Putin has been accused of lifting parts of his thesis in St Petersburg on strategic